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To commemorate the 3rd anniversary of Rong-Yu Wan’s passing, the SME Foundation is soliciting contributions to her scholarship fund.

Rong-Yu Wan Scholarship established October 2009.

With the assistance of Marc LeVier, a memorial fund was established in her name in 2009 with the SME Foundation. The fund was established with the intent to award scholarships to metallurgical graduate students. To date, contributions have grown to over $22,000, with a goal of $40,000. Ms. Wan’s son, Joseph Wang, has met with SMEF staff and is hopeful that the scholarship fund goal will be reached in the near future, so that awards may begin to be conferred.

Dr. Rong-Yu Wan was an independent metallurgical consultant following her retirement from Newmont Mining Corp., where she was the chief research scientist-hydrometallurgy and the metallurgy research manager. She received numerous professional society and institutional awards, served on boards, panels and committees for the National Academies and the Department of Energy. A few highlights of her career accomplishments are:

Recipient of the 2000 SME Antoine M. Gaudin Award for her contributions to mineral processing research and development

Recipient of the 2009 SME Distinguished Member Award for her significant and sustained contributions to the minerals industry and to SME

Adjunct professor at University of Utah, her PhD alma mater

Member of the National Academy of Engineering

Author of 80+ technical papers and peer-reviewed papers in international trade journals

If you are applying for SME Scholarships this year, there are just two weeks left until the deadline (11:59 p.m. MDT on Thursday, November 1). If your application, including both recommendation letters, is not complete by the deadline, it will not be forwarded to our scholarship committee(s) for consideration.

Remember, SME is now using ReviewRoom for the administration of our scholarship application and review processes. ReviewRoom replaces the online scholarship process that was previously housed on SME’s website. Click
HERE
for more information about ReviewRoom and how to get started.

Show us what you're mining - Submissions are now welcome in the SME Photo Contest. We would like to thank our sponsor, Hitachi, for helping us get some great prizes this year. Winning images will be announced before the 2013 SME Annual Meeting and displayed in the SME booth on the exhibit floor for all attendees to enjoy.
Entry deadline is January 11, 2013.
Go to the
SME Photo Contest
page for full details and to view last year's winners & honorable mentions.

Announcing the 2013 MPD Student Poster Contest

Minerals & Metallurgical Processing
, SME’s premier international peer-reviewed journal, has again teamed up with SME's Mineral and Metallurgical Processing Division for the MPD Student Poster Contest, to be held in conjunction with the 2013 SME Annual Meeting and Exhibit in Denver, CO. Details of the contest are as follows:

There will be two levels of judging: graduate students and undergraduate students.

Prizes of $1,000, $500 and $300 will be awarded for 1st, 2nd and 3rd places at each level.

Students will give an oral (5 min) presentation in a morning (Wednesday) MPD session in addition to presenting their poster at the MPD luncheon.

All participants will receive one complimentary ticket to the MPD Luncheon at the Annual Meeting.

The authors of winning poster abstracts will receive a complimentary online subscription to M&MP and a print copy of the May 2013 Student Poster Contest issue.

All winning poster abstracts will be submitted to peer review; all abstracts that pass peer review will be considered for publication in the May 2013 issue of M&MP. Revision is typically required in order to pass peer review.

At its midyear meeting on September 28, the SME Board of Directors approved a plan to create a mining engineering Congressional Fellowship in Washington, D.C. for 2013-’14. The Fellow will spend one year, beginning September 1, working as a special legislative assistant on the staff of a member of Congress or congressional committee. Activities may involve conducting legislative or oversight work, assisting in congressional hearings and debates, and preparing briefs and writing speeches. The Fellow also attends an orientation program on congressional and executive branch operations; the program includes guidance in the congressional placement process and a year-long seminar series on science and public policy issues.

The purpose of this Fellowship is to provide a unique opportunity to gain firsthand experience with the federal legislative process and make practical contributions to the effective and timely use of the Fellow’s specific knowledge in mining, mineral processing and mined product applications as they relate to the environment, natural resources and federal science policy. Qualified candidates will gain an invaluable public policy learning experience, contribute to the more effective use of mined materials knowledge in government and broaden awareness about the value of scientist/engineer-government interaction within the federal government.

The SME application period opens January 1. If you are interested in applying for this position or need more information, please contact John Hayden,
hayden@smenet.org
or 303-948-4250.

Pay your 2013 SME dues bill online

Maintain access to everything your SME membership confers, including:

OneMine.org

Mining Engineering magazine

eBooks

Discount on all publications

Discount on all meetings and conferences

Online directory

And much more….

SME values its members and we look forward to your continued membership.
Pay online
and save time and money!

Mine the archives

Look up that that article you’ve been talking about, research a fact from 2007, revisit a favorite issue...all part of your membership benefit package. Complete access to Mining Engineering’s online archives is free to all members at http://me.smenet.org/.

The incidence and potential severity of traffic-related incidents in surface mining operations indicate that operating mobile machinery poses a significant hazard to the workforce. Mine road design considerations are often inadequately addressed, and this training will assist personnel to identify and apply the safest strategies in road design as a means of reducing exposure to mobile machinery related incidents. Skills developed in this training will also enable participants to evaluate their current haul road systems, recognize operational inefficiencies and implement continuous improvement strategies to reduce hazards across the mine road network and improve road performance on a day-to-day operational basis.

Register now for the 2012 Safety Management and System Reliability Conference!

SME and CIM are pleased to collaborate on the second in a series of Reliability and Safety Conferences: Safety Management & System Reliability.
November 13-15, 2012
Marriott City Center, Minneapolis, MN

Registration and complete program details now available!
This conference provides the unique opportunity to discuss best practices pertaining to safety and health management, loss control and system reliability.

The UCA Division is seeking recommendations and nominations for interested individuals to serve on the 2013 UCA Executive Committee. Currently, the UCA bylaws allow a 19-person executive committee, including three officers (chair, vice-chair and past chair) and four directors from each of the following areas: engineers, contractors, owners and suppliers. Ideally, the UCA seeks a balanced representation of the four areas, but the committee does have the option to have more members serving in some categories while we have fewer representatives in other areas.

If you would like to nominate someone for consideration, please forward your recommendation to Mary O'Shea,
oshea@smenet.org
at SME Headquarters by
November 1.
Staff will compile all nominations for the UCA Nominating Committee's consideration.

Please identify which of the four areas the individual(s) should be considered to represent (engineer, contractor, owner or supplier).

A brief bio or resume outlining the person's industry experience and service to UCA and other professional organizations.

Please keep in mind that the individual must be a member of the UCA of SME.

WAAIME call for nominations

The WAAIME Committee is seeking nominations for the incoming WAAIME Committee member, who this year represents the “international” area of the committee. The nominee should therefore be from an international section. An electronic copy of a photo and a brief bio should be faxed or emailed with the attached nomination form. The due dates for nominations follow:

November 30
- All nominations with photos and bios should be at SME Headquarters.

December 2
- SME Headquarters will forward the nominees to the WAAIME Executive Committee.

International Sustainability in Mining Conference scheduled for June 2013

The 6th International Conference on Sustainable Development in the Minerals Industry (SDIMI) will be held June 30-July 3, 2013 in Milos, Greece. The theme of the meeting is Milos+10: Incorporating Sustainability into the Educational Process. The cochairs of SDIMI are Zach Agioutantis, Technical University of Crete, Greece and Michael Karmis, Virginia Tech. Topics include: sustainability in minerals education; best practices and sustainable mining practices; sustainable land use and raw materials supply issues; mineral resources policy; social contributions and environmental performance; certification, evaluation and auditing; local communities and good governance; capacity building and human resources; sustainability reporting; and more. Abstract submissions are due by January 15, 2013. For more information contact sdimi2013@heliotopos.net or go to http://sdimi2013.conferences.gr.

Mining tops US wage growth in first half of 2012

According to the newest release of The PayScale Index, mining and oil and gas exploration outpaced all other industries for wage growth in Q3 2012, with a 5.6 percent year-over-year increase, fueled by soaring oil and gasoline costs and peak prices of commodities such as gold and copper. While overall wages for workers nationwide rose roughly 5 percent between 2006 and Q4 2008, workers in these industry sectors saw their wages increase by more than 10 percent in the same period -- that trend continued in 2012.

The PayScale Index follows the change in wages of employed U.S. workers, revealing trends in compensation for jobs over time. It specifically measures the quarterly change in the total cash compensation of full-time private industry employees nationally, with additional detail on the 20 largest metropolitan areas, 15 industries, 19 job categories and three company sizes.

MSHA Updates

Mining fatality, injury rates fell to historic low in 2011

Mining fatality and injury rates fell to an all-time low in 2011, according to data recently released from MSHA.

The fatal injury rate for mining as a whole was .0114 per 200,000 hours worked, and the all-injury rate was 2.73 per 200,000 hours worked, down from .0234 and 2.81, respectively, in 2010. In the metal/nonmetal mining sector, the fatal injury rate was .0084 per 200,000 hours worked, and the all-injury rate was 2.28 per 200,000 hours worked, down from .0129 and 2.37, respectively, in 2010. In the coal mining sector, the fatal injury rate was .0156 per 200,000 hours worked, and the all-injury rate was 3.38 per 200,000 hours worked, down from .0384 and 3.43, respectively, in 2010.

MSHA also released a third-quarter summary of mining deaths across the country. From July through September 2012, 11 deaths occurred in work-related accidents – six in coal mining and five in metal/nonmetal mining, bringing the total fatalities in the mining industry for 2012 to date to 31. This compares to 37 fatalities for all of 2011.

MSHA unveils new machine guarding compliance assistance resource

On October 4, MSHA introduced a new compliance assistance resource to address improperly guarded machinery - one of the most commonly cited violations in the metal and nonmetal mining industry. “Guarding Machinery at Metal & Nonmetal Mines” is a sequel to a compliance guide for guarding conveyor belts published in 2010. In that year, guarding-related violations peaked at 10,877 and accounted for one of every seven violations cited.

The new guide has been widely reviewed by industry stakeholders, MSHA inspectors and MSHA supervisors. It provides examples of good guarding practice and compliance information relating to all types of mining equipment, including drive and power transmission components; crushers and screens; rotating, packaging and palletizing equipment; power tools and auxiliary equipment.

The conveyor belt guarding guide was well received by the mining industry and has resulted in increased compliance and more consistent enforcement. Guarding-related citations and orders issued through the third quarter of fiscal year 2012 are down 39 percent from 2010 levels. Both guides have the same format: a photo-illustrated PowerPoint presentation with detailed explanatory notes.